WARNING: This story graphically depicts in sexually explicit language consensual sex between minor boys, as well as physical intimacy between these same characters as young men over the age of 18. The author feels that these scenes have been depicted tastefully and that the inclusion of these scenes is relevant to the plot of the story, but if you are offended by such material, stop reading now!
Interview with Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood By Rolling Stone writer Michael Anderson, August 4, 2004
Elijah Wood and Macaulay Culkin are both former child actors who are continuing to work as adult actors. Wood's first on screen role was a small speaking part in the "Cafe 80s" scene in Back to the Future Part 2. Since then he went on to appear in such films as North, Radio Flyer, The War, Flipper and more recently starred in the three Lord of the Rings movies as the hobbit Frodo Baggins. His most recent role was a small part in the Jim Carrey film The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Macaulay Culkin had a few small roles in films like Rocket Gibraltar and Uncle Buck before he burst on to the scene in 1990 as the star of Home Alone. The John Hughes film, about a vacationing family traveling to Paris for the Christmas holidays who absent-mindedly leave their 10 year old son at home alone, only to have him staunchly defend the home against a pair of would-be bungling burglars, was at the time one of the highest grossing films of all time. It made Culkin a star. He went on to appear in the film's sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York as well as other films such as Richie Rich and Getting Even With Dad. In 1993 Wood and Culkin worked together in the film The Good Son in which Culkin played a psychopathic child. Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner recently received a phone call from both Wood and Culkin who personally requested that an interview be set up with one of their best interviewers. They said that they had an important announcement that they wanted to make public that would not only affect their future careers but, in their own words, "probably shake up Hollywood a lot."
I met Culkin and Wood in their private suite on August 4, 2004 at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. They were both alone. No other signs of agents, assistants or other type of entourage could be seen. With their permission I turned on my tape recorder and also set up a tripod and camcorder and began to interview them. (Editor's note: The videotape was only created as a backup for the author's use to recreate their words for this article. As of press time, negotiations are still underway with Wood and Culkin to broadcast the videotape.) The interview began in a light and casual manner. Both Wood and Culkin appeared to be nervous and fidgety as they began and often interrupted each other to supplement the flow of information, but they both relaxed noticeably as the interview progressed and interrupted less frequently. They indicated to me that since the filming of, and later press junket for, their 1993 film The Good Son, they had barely managed to maintain the most superficial form of a friendship through the occasional email, phone call, letter or online chat. Mostly their correspondence with each other would be in the form of emails carbon copied to each other and dozens of other friends updating each other on their personal and professional lives. Wood said that he did not attend Culkin's 1998 wedding to Rachel Miner but that he had sent a gift. Culkin and Miner were divorced in 2000. Culkin spoke openly about his failed marriage and his attempts to revitalize his career. In 2001 he appeared on stage in London in the play Madame Melville. In 2003 he starred as the 1970s gay night club hopper and later convicted murderer Michael Alig in the film Party Monster. More recently he had a small role in the 2004 comedy Saved as a paraplegic. Culkin said that a couple of months ago while he was in Los Angeles to do publicity for Saved that he and Wood accidentally bumped into each other at a nightclub. "Actually what happened," Wood explained, "was that someone told me that Mac was there and I went over to his table to speak to him." Culkin says that their conversation that night was very superficial. "We both had other friends there with us that night, and after introducing them all to each other began to talk mainly about our careers." Wood said that it was the first time they'd actually seen each other in person since working on The Good Son. "I could tell that both of us wished that we could be alone to talk, but that was impossible because of the people who we were with. So at the end of the night as Elijah and his friends were leaving I asked him if I could call him. He gave me his cell phone number and I gave him mine." said Culkin. "Actually I was as anxious to talk to Mac as he was to talk to me. I let him know this in a voicemail I left him later that night before I went to bed. Mac called me the next morning and asked me to come over to his hotel room that afternoon, and I did." said Wood.
It was at this point in the story that Culkin took me back to 1993 to the time they spent working together on The Good Son. "Elijah and I became very good friends while making that movie. We spent every waking moment that we could together alone when not shooting or being tutored. We'd play video games together and talk about our careers. We were both thirteen years old at the time. One night early on during the production of the film when we were alone together in my hotel room, I surprised Elijah by announcing that I had managed to smuggle into my suitcase two six packs of beer and a bottle of whiskey, and would he like to drink with me?" said Culkin. "I asked him where he got the alcohol from but he wouldn't tell me. I'd never drunk alcohol before. I asked him if he had and he said yes. He said he'd had his first drink at 11. I asked him if he drank that much. He said, Nah, I'm not an alcoholic or anything like that.' He said that beer relaxed him. Not wanting to seem like a wimp, I agreed to try a beer. Mac got some ice and cracked one open for both of us. It tasted funny at first but I quickly got used to it. We were splitting our third can together when I got curious as to what other goodies he might have in his suitcase with him. So without waiting for his permission I went over and started rummaging through it. I came across a bag of goodies- candy bars, twinkies, etc. It was what I pulled out of the bottom of the bag which shocked me and clearly embarrassed Mac." said Wood. They grinned at each other and after a few moments of silence I was compelled to ask them what it was. "Elijah had found three hardcore videotapes of adult porno that I had with me. I had forgotten that they were in there. I was really embarrassed." said Culkin. I began to have a sense of where this might be going. Wood continued, "I had never seen porno before in my life- at least not the triple X-rated variety that Mac's tapes showed. The tapes were each surrounded in their own protective plastic cases, and the front covers were totally explicit, showing women sucking on big gigantic cocks and getting fucked. Instantly I began to get an erection. I asked Max if we could watch them- he had a VCR in the room." "Although I was embarrassed, I was even more afraid of seeming like a prude if I refused. Also, I think that part of Elijah's obvious enthusiasm was rubbing off on me. I began to get caught up in the camaraderie and young male bonding. I said ok and we popped one of the tapes into the VCR and began to play it. I fast forwarded to the good scenes." said Culkin. "At first Mac and I each lay on his bed fully clothed watching his porno. He asked me point blank if I ever masturbated. I think I said something like Ya, sometimes.' Mac said that he jacked off at least once a day, sometimes twice. Things started to progress very slowly. Over the course of about half an hour, first Mac said that his dick was getting hard and I said that mine was too." said Wood, as Culkin grinned devilishly as he took a sip of water. Wood continued, "At first I think we groped our hard-ons through the outside of our pants, and later we reached our hands into our pants to grab our dicks. All the while my eyes were popping out of my head as scene after scene of hardcore adult heterosexual sex danced in front of my eyes. We each chatted excitedly about how turned on we were by what we were watching."
Culkin took over the story. "Ya, it probably was after we had been watching for half an hour when I just said to myself, Fuck it.' So I unzipped my pants and pulled my hard dick out of my pants and started stroking it in front of Elijah." "I was shocked. But in a weird kind of way I was also turned on. It made me a lot less inhibited. I was kinda glad he did it, because it meant that now I could take out my dick too without being embarrassed, which is exactly what I did. After I took my dick out, Mac smiled at me and stood up and took off his pants and underwear and got back on to the bed nude from the waist down. I thought he was doing it just to get comfortable and so I did the exact same thing. Throughout the whole thing we occasionally continued to sip the beer. I think the alcohol definitely made me a lot less inhibited." said Wood. Culkin turned to Wood and asked him, "Did you have any idea what I was going to do next?" "Not a fucking clue," Wood replied, "and if I had, I probably never would have taken my dick out in the first place." Culkin continued, "I had had my first homosexual experience at the age of eleven." "With another boy close to your own age, I assume?" I interrupted to ask him. Culkin just grinned sheepishly at me for a moment and then said, "I'd rather leave that up to your readers' imagination. No comment." After the interview was over, and all recording devices were off, I pointed out that some people might read into his statement that his first lover may have in fact been pop star Michael Jackson, who is currently awaiting trial on charges of sexually molesting a twelve year old boy. It is no secret that Jackson and Culkin spent a lot of time together after Culkin burst on to the scene in "Home Alone" but previously Culkin had always publicly denied that Jackson had molested him. Now, instead of denying the implication outright, Culkin simply said to me, "I'm not going to publicly comment about Michael Jackson." When I began to open my mouth to speak again, Culkin interrupted me before I could get started. "No way. Forget it." They thanked me for my time and I left. But getting back to the earlier interview, Culkin had continued, "So, there we were, lying on my bed stroking our hard-ons for a few more minutes when once again I just said to myself, Fuck it.' I honestly don't think that when I took my dick out or when I took off my pants that the thought that I might do what I was about to do was in my conscious mind. Looking back now I suppose there was some kind of unconscious motivation. After all, for all I knew, Elijah was straight, and before this had happened I would have been too embarrassed to admit to him about my past homosexual experiences. But as we lay there side by side stroking our dicks, I began to have a stronger and stronger desire to put Elijah's dick in my mouth. So that's exactly what I did."
Wood picked up the story. "In fact, to this day I can clearly recall that just before you made your move on me, you took a deep breath as if you were about to go under water." "I was trying to brace myself against the inevitable rush of fear and adrenaline which I knew I was about to feel. I was taking a HUGE risk. If Elijah had freaked out, it could have gone so disastrously wrong." said Culkin. "In fact, I think I did start to freak out for about all of five seconds. What are you doing!?' I think I said in an overly loud voice," Wood said, "but all of a sudden the physical sensations from receiving the first blowjob I'd ever had in my life hit me, and suddenly all of my wriggling and squirming stopped and I stopped struggling long enough to enjoy what he was doing to me, and when I did, I finally said after a few more seconds, Oh, fuck! That feels wonderful!'" "I knew then that I had him," Culkin said. "I kept blowing him for a few more minutes until finally I pulled my head away and looked at him and smiled. My dick was rock hard and so was his." I began to notice how each of them would smile at each other as they spoke to me. Wood had a wistful look on his face as he added, "To this day I can't remember what got into me next or who went in first. I think I started to move my head close to Mac's first, and when he anticipated what I was planning to do, he leaned in closer and kissed me on the lips first. We passionately made out for a few minutes. Mac grabbed my dick and I grabbed his. We pulled and groped and fondled each other's dicks as we made out. I think he even put his tongue into my mouth too, but I didn't seem to mind."
Suddenly Culkin interrupted him and said to me, "I hope we're not making you uncomfortable." I gave a nervous laugh and said, "No, not at all." but the truth of the matter is that I was. I was clearly unprepared for this revelation and began to wonder what was the point of this? Why tell me (and the world) about a homosexual experience that they'd had with each other when they were both thirteen years old? Furthermore, the fact that both of them seemed perfectly comfortable using sexually explicit language in front of me not only indicated how totally unprepared and shocked I must have appeared to be at, if not the inappropriateness of the level of their candidness with me, then at least the completely unexpected nature of it (something that Culkin must have suddenly realized when he interrupted Wood at this point), but also clearly hinted to me the deep level of intimacy that both of them apparently still shared with each other, something that would be further elaborated upon as the interview continued; something that Culkin apparently wanted to touch upon right now. "You see, we need to explain to you and your readers about how things started between us so that you'll all better understand what we want to tell you about ourselves now." said Culkin. "And that is?" I asked. With that, Wood and Culkin turned to look at each other and began to passionately kiss each other on the lips, probably just as passionately as they had first done all those years ago in Culkin's hotel room as adolescents. The kiss only lasted for a few seconds, long enough for its point to register. Elijah Wood and Macaulay Culkin are still lovers to this day. Actually, their sexual affair with each other had only recently resumed, as they would soon explain to me. But first, Wood finished relating to me the details of his first homosexual experience with Culkin.
"We made out for a few minutes and then Mac pulled away and grinned at me and pointed at his hard dick as if to say to me Ya wanna try it?' I thought to myself, What the hell. You've gone this far, you might as well go all the way.' And with that, I put my head in Mac's lap and began to suck his dick." "After a while I showed Elijah how we could sixty-nine side to side. He loved that!" said Culkin. Clearly embarrassed, Wood playfully shoved Culkin in the head and said to him, "Shut up, faggot!" Culkin playfully pushed him back and said to him, "Who are you calling faggot, you homo?" They seemed to have a good laugh at that and then Culkin picked up the story. "We sixty-nined for a few more minutes and when I started to get close to orgasm I pulled away and suggested to him that we each masturbate ourselves side by side until we came. I think I sucked Elijah for about 15 more seconds with my head in his lap when I began to cum on the sheets. Then Elijah pulled his dick out of my mouth and began to cum on his chest and stomach. I think at some point earlier we must have ditched our shirts because I think by that point we were both completely naked. I got up and went to the bathroom to piss and I brought back a towel for us to use to clean up all the cum." Wood explained that afterwards they got dressed and played video games until eventually Culkin fell asleep on his bed and he quietly slipped out of the room to go back to his own room down the hall and go to bed.
Wood continued, "The next day I had a clear and full memory of what I'd done with Mac. He later admitted to me that he remembered it too, but when we saw each other the next day on the set neither one of us dared to bring up the subject of what we had done. Although nowadays I have no problem with what we did, I suppose at the time I was ashamed and embarrassed at what we had done. I wondered if Mac felt the same way I did. But what was starting to piss me off was the way he neglected to bring the subject up at all as if he didn't remember it. I asked him if I could come to his room again that night but he said that he was going out to dinner with his family. Later that day when we were alone in Mac's trailer I told him that I enjoyed what we had done and that I wanted to do it again. I know that must sound like I'm contradicting myself. Yes, I was embarrassed at what we had done, but all I knew was that Mac had awakened something in me and that I desperately wanted to have my dick sucked again. When you're thirteen years old and you start having orgasms like that, it's a mind blowing experience. It gives you the feeling like you are in control of your life. I was vaguely aware of the homosexual implications of what we were doing. I liked girls and I had absolutely zero sexual attraction to other boys or men. All I knew was that I was starting to develop a huge crush on Mac. I knew that it would be our little secret and that I wanted to do it again. Finally Mac said ok, we would. He told me he'd try to call me later that night but he didn't. He told me the following day that his family wouldn't leave him alone when they got back from dinner until it was time to go to bed. When I accused him of deliberately trying to ignore me as we spoke privately in his trailer, Mac said to me, `You think I don't want it to happen again, is that it?' I told him that yes, that was precisely my suspicion. That's when Mac again shocked me. He got down on his knees, unbuckled my pants and took my dick out and sucked it for a minute or two. Then he stood up and said to me, "I hope that will help change your mind." He kissed me on the mouth for a few seconds when suddenly there was a knock on Mac's trailer door. I quickly zipped up my fly and we were told that we were wanted back on the set."
I asked them if it was difficult acting on the movie in light of the affair they were having. Culkin offered this reply: "I'm sure it was on both of our minds constantly. However, we both were (and still are) consummate professional actors who have the unique ability to totally block everything else out and concentrate completely on our characters when the director yells action.' " Wood offered this in response to that: "I'm sure that occasionally our minds may have wandered a bit, but it director Joseph Ruben didn't get exactly the performance he wanted out of us, he'd yell cut' and explain to us what we were doing wrong and what he wanted us to do. That usually made us focus long enough to give him a performance that met with his satisfaction." Wood continued, "I think that Mac and I must have had sex with each other like nine or ten or twelve times over a two month period after that. That may seem like a lot but it only averaged out to about once or twice a week because that's how often we had time to be alone. Often we'd run lines together and rehearse with each other first, and only when we felt we completely had nailed it would we then have sex. Often shoots lasted all day and night, and other times we were required to rehearse with the other actors or with each other but with the crew around. So ya, if we could do it with each other once a week or occasionally twice we were lucky. I'll never forget that last time we had sex, we knew we were coming down to the end of the shoot and that it might be our last chance to do it with each other. Mac challenged me to let him cum in my mouth. I said ok but only if he'd let me cum in his mouth afterwards. He agreed. When he came in my mouth I found it extremely disgusting. I nearly choked and vomited and had to pull his dick out of my mouth as he was still ejaculating to spit the stuff out. But afterwards as he let me cum in his mouth, only then did I fully understand the full appeal of it. I had thought he was daring me to do something gross. The intensity of my orgasm was another tenfold even above what I had been experiencing beforehand. It made me sorry that we hadn't been cumming in each other's mouths the whole time during our affair. To my surprise and horror, Mac swallowed my cum. You're crazy!' I told him. He just smiled at me and said, Maybe I am!' as he wiped his mouth as if he'd just finished a good meal! Alas, that was indeed the last time we had the chance to have sex as kids." I asked them if they always drank or watched porno when they had sex together. Porno, yes, they replied, but drinking, no. At least not after Mac's supply of beer and whiskey ran out. Wood continued, "As I told you before, Mac and I have only managed to maintain sporadic contact with each other over the past eleven years. Up until this year I had never had a homosexual experience with anyone else in my life except for Macaulay Culkin. I never fantasized about other boys or found them attractive as I got older. As I got older I began to understand better the negative stereotypes and connotations of homosexuality. I just chalked up my experiences with Mac as horny experimentation, which at the time was truthfully probably all that it had been for me. It wasn't until I ran into Mac in L.A. recently when we had some time to be alone together again that Mac told me about some of the other homosexual experiences he had had before and after his experiences with me. When I said up until earlier this year I had never had a homosexual experience with anyone besides Mac,' I didn't mean to imply that I've done it with anyone else. Mac is still the only one I've ever done this kind of thing with, but I don't want to get ahead of the story. I had my first heterosexual experience at the age of 16. In fact I've had many satisfying sexual experiences with women in my life. I'd always considered myself straight and am not attracted to other men. I hadn't masturbated to the memories of my childhood sexual experiences with Mac, but I don't regret them." Now Culkin gave me some more background about his past sexual experiences. "The last time I had a homosexual experience I was 15 years old. I consider myself to be bisexual. Since the age of 15 I had forced myself to only have sex with women for fear of being outed as gay. The truth is that though I do enjoy sex with women, I probably am more attracted to men. In fact it was when my ex-wife Rachel Miner discovered my huge gay porno collection on my computer one day that led to my eventual breakup with her. Fortunately she agreed to go along with the public spin that we put on our separation, stating that it was mainly because we wanted to focus on our careers, which is also true. Despite this, I've been afraid to pursue a gay relationship with a man, until now." Now Wood continued, "When I met Mac at that nightclub in L.A. a couple of months ago, I suddenly found myself becoming sexually attracted to him again all over again after all these years. I don't know what triggered it. It wasn't like when I sat down at his table with our friends that I found myself saying to myself, Wow, he's a really attractive man!' But as we began talking about our careers in front of each other's friends, as I mostly regaled them with stories of working on The Lord of the Rings films, I started to think back on my earlier sexual experiences with Mac. All I could think of was I've sucked this guy's dick and he's sucked mine.' I began to get extremely nostalgic and suddenly I found myself getting a huge erection which I was able to hide under the table. You have to understand that up until this point neither one of us had ever spoken to each other about our experiences with each other on the phone or in any of our email or online conversations. I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times we've seen each other online at the same time and IMed each other. As the course of the conversation went on that night, I kept saying to myself Holy shit, I cannot fucking believe that here I am sitting next to Mac and all I can think about is how much I'd love to get naked with him and suck on his cock as he sucks mine too.' As if Mac could read my mind and wanted to tell me that he was thinking the same thing, at one point while he was speaking, he reached under the table and gave my knee a squeeze. I knew he was testing me. It was his way of asking me if I was still interested in him. I squeezed his knee back. Despite this, I couldn't bring myself to tell him how I felt until I had the chance to see him alone, though we did exchange cell phone numbers that night and promised to get together soon. I left a voicemail for Mac later that night and he invited me over to his hotel the next day. When I got there, I told him how seeing him again like this had suddenly rekindled a lot of old feelings in me. I told him that he was the only person I'd ever had a homosexual experience with, that I wasn't attracted to men and that gay porn repulses me. Nevertheless I told him that I had a huge desire to have sex with him again. How did he feel about that?"
"It was then that I explained to him about my past sexual experiences," continued Culkin, "and that I consider myself bisexual with a preference for men. I told him about my huge gay porn collection. I told him that I found myself as attracted to him as he was to me, that I'll always cherish the experiences we had while making The Good Son, and that I'd love to have sex with him again. Elijah was dumbstruck with nervous anticipation for a moment. I gave him one of my famous evil grins and said to him, So, would you like to kiss me?' He replied, Oh, fuck ya!' and moved in on me real quick. We kissed each other passionately on the mouth, tore off our clothes and went into the bedroom and had sex. We've seen each other four or five times a week since then and have continued to have a mad passionate affair." "However, as time has gone by," said Wood, "we've been increasingly nervous about being caught by the tabloids. Mac has told me that he has wanted to come out of the closet for a long time. He asked me if I would come out with him. I'll tell you why I agreed to it in a moment. First I want to make one point. If people want to call me bisexual, then fine, I'm bisexual. I still don't find myself attracted to any other men but Mac, and I still find myself strongly attracted to women. I told Mac that I don't see myself wanting to pursue a long term relationship with him. Although I will always want to maintain a close friendship with him, I want to some day get married (to a woman) and raise a family. I think that perhaps I'm just looking to release a lot of pent up lust and explore this side of my sexuality. However, I deeply love Mac and if by coming forward and admitting my own homosexuality or bisexuality and my relationship with him gives him the courage to admit his own homosexuality or bisexuality then I'm all for it."
"We're both keenly aware that in some circles of show business, this may have a negative impact on our careers," said Culkin, "but it seems to us that all of the gay celebrities in Hollywood are lesbians. This double standard which makes it socially acceptable for a female celebrity to admit their homosexuality, but not for a man, is disgusting. All of the gay male actors in Hollywood are ones who haven't made it big yet. I'm sure that there are quite a few well known male celebrities out there who are gay or bi, and I hope that by Elijah and I leading the way that it will encourage other actors to do the same thing. The only way that we will make homosexuality more socially acceptable in our society is if more and more people come out of the closet, and I'm not just talking about famous people here, I'm talking about everyone. I hope that Elijah and I can be positive role models for the gay community." Wood added, "So the reason we asked to do this interview was so that we could both publicly come out of the closet together and publicly admit our sexual relationship with each other. We realized that the longer we continued to sneak around with each other, the greater the risk was that eventually we'd be found out by some tabloid, and we didn't want to be outed that way. We wanted to do it on our own terms. I'm sure after this interview comes out that we'll still make headlines in the tabloids, but hopefully at least this way it will defuse some of the steam. If this admission ultimately hurts our careers, it will only point out the bigotry that is sadly still part of our society. Although Mac has told me that if at some point we decide to end the sexual element of our relationship, that he will probably look to get into another gay relationship, what I worry about is whether I'll be able to find women who will be willing to date me despite my admission that I am bisexual."
I stopped him here and told him that I wanted to back up to something he had said a few moments earlier. "It sounds to me as though you're implying that producers should go out of the way to hire you and Macaulay so as to prove to everyone that they're not homophobic. That's a little unfair, don't you think? It makes it sound like you expect to be given special treatment." I said. "No, that's not what I meant," Wood responded, "Producers have the right to choose the actor they feel has the most talent. However, if Mac and I have a tough time finding work in the mainstream industry from now on, I think it would be a pretty clear indication that we're being blackballed. I hope that doesn't happen. I decided to go back to the theme of sexual orientation. I asked Wood how he would feel if, hypothetically, some day after he had started to date a woman if he suddenly got a call from Culkin who told him that he hadn't yet entered another gay relationship and wanted to see him to have sex with him again. What would he say? Would it make a difference to him if Culkin admitted to having had sex with other men since him, but that he wasn't currently in a relationship with anyone else? "That's such a tough question to answer." said Wood. "I don't think I've given much thought to it before now. Certainly I don't think it would be right to do it behind the back of my future girlfriend. It would depend on the level of commitment between myself and this girl. If by the time Mac called me, I had been with a girl for a couple of years and things were starting to get serious enough to the point where we started talking about the possibility of marriage down the road, then no, I don't think it would be appropriate." He paused to think for a moment and then added, "On the other hand, if things hadn't progressed that far yet and I was up front with her about Mac's request, and I had her blessing to do it, then I think that yes, I probably would do it. But Mac and I would have to realize that ultimately it would be a disruptive influence on any heterosexual relationship that I was trying to pursue. If it was just a one-time thing to tide Mac over while he's looking for a boyfriend, then I don't think it would be a problem. If however he wanted to do it on a regular basis, sooner or later I think I'd have to tell him no. Keep in mind however that if neither of us had yet managed to find a partner of either sex, I'd be much more inclined to go back to him to continue our affair after some weeks or months apart. One thing that Mac and I have discussed as a possibility that we may want to do as a last hurrah if I indicate that I'm looking to end our affair is to try to find one or two bisexual women for an all out bisexual orgy, where every partner could have gay and straight sex all in the same encounter. That would probably be a lot of fun." "This is going to surprise and shock some people, but we're really serious about it. Elijah and I have talked about the possibility of videotaping some of our lovemaking with each other, and then wait about 25 or 30 years until both of us have made so much money and feel financially secure enough that it doesn't matter what the repercussions are, and then release the tapes publicly. We think that would be a lot of fun. We'd probably then donate all of the proceeds from the sale of the tapes to gay rights organizations or to AIDS research, though hopefully by then they'd have a cure. But for now, if we each hope to maintain credibility as actors, it's not something we'd look to do right now." said Culkin.
I asked each of them if they had previously come out of the closet to their families. First Culkin responded, "I came out to my mother and my siblings last year when I was working on Party Monster and they have accepted me. I've barely managed contact with my father since he separated from my mother but I called him and he's ok with it too. It's funny- when I was doing research for Party Monster I hung out in several gay nightclubs and bars in New York and L.A. and I constantly had to tell people that I was not gay, and that I was only there to do research for my upcoming role. The truth is that I enjoyed being there quite a bit." Then Wood spoke up. "I told my family about the true nature of my relationship with Max last week and to tell them about my decision- our decision- to go public with this. At first they were shocked. They begged me to change my mind. They said that they supported my decision to be bisexual but that they worry about the effect it may have on my career. I tried to explain my reasons to them but I still don't think they understand. I guess only time will tell who was right about this, them or me."
I asked them if they both intend to become active in gay rights and they said yes. I asked Wood if there was any chance he'd want to get into a long term committed relationship with Culkin and again he reiterated that as fond as he was of him, that his desire to be with him right now was motivated primarily by sex, and that for now it was a good basis for a short term relationship but that ultimately he couldn't see it being the basis of a long term relationship. I asked Wood what he meant by "short term." "A few months. Maybe even a year or two. But certainly not much longer than that." Then I said to them, "Um... how shall I put this? Um... you didn't say anything about this when you related your adolescent experiences with each other, but I was wondering... oh god this is so embarrassing..." Culkin said, "You're going to ask us about anal sex, aren't you?" I asked him how he could tell. He said that it was obvious. Wood answered the question. "You're right. When we were kids we never got into any fucking. It was strictly sucking, kissing and mutual masturbation. However, since we've resumed our affair, I've fucked Mac several times. I absolutely positively won't let him try to fuck me or stick anything in my ass. Uh uh, no thanks. Sorry, not interested. Next question?" I asked Mac if he is afraid that by coming out of the closet, if people might start to speculate that his famous actor brothers Keiran and Rory Culkin are gay too. "Rory's just a kid, for God's sake!" Wood exclaimed. I pointed out that by Culkin's own admission he had had his first gay sexual experience at the age of eleven. Wood conceded that it was a good point. "Keiran has told me that he is straight. I think he has a girlfriend but he doesn't like to talk about her publicly. I don't think anyone in my family has talked to Rory about his sexuality but as far as I know he is not gay. It is a total myth that if one sibling is gay that it increases the likelihood that the others may be gay too. There are many families with only one gay child when the other siblings are all straight." said Culkin.
I asked Wood what he likes about gay sex as opposed to straight sex. He said that it was totally a matter of camaraderie and male bonding which turned him on that was lacking from heterosexual sex. Culkin admitted to being turned on by the same thing. I asked Wood if he thought it was at all odd for him to be so sexually attracted to Culkin and to enjoy sex so thoroughly with him and yet to be so totally uninterested in other men. I asked him if there might be a certain kind of "Peter Pan" element in it- that he is looking to relive one of the more exciting and erotic experiences of his childhood. Wood admitted that that may be a part of it (and Culkin chimed in that he felt a little bit the same way), but then both Wood and Culkin emphasized that they are not pedophiles and that they are not sexually attracted to children. "It's one thing to romanticize your own childhood." Wood pointed out, "It's another thing to want to be one again. Certainly this has helped to bring back a flood of childhood memories, but I wouldn't read too much into that `Peter Pan' stuff if I were you. We're both perfectly happy to be adults."
I asked them if they would look to take on more roles as gay characters. Culkin replied, "Certainly there are a lot of underground gay filmmakers who make films primarily targeted to gay audiences, and I think that both Elijah and I would like to appear in such films, possibly with each other. However it would be extremely disappointing as time goes by if that gradually becomes the vast majority of the types of roles we can get. The transition back to mainstream films will probably be easier for Elijah than it is for me since he has indicated only a passing curiosity in homosexuality, whereas I have expressed it as my preference. I liken it to someone who has publicly admitted to smoking pot a few times, compared to someone who has a stronger drug habit and uses cocaine or heroin or LSD." I asked them if either of them took drugs. They both admitted to trying pot in their teens but said they'd never taken anything stronger, and that neither of them uses drugs now, not even pot.* (*- see note at end of interview) They both admitted to casual drinking. "In fact," said Culkin, "there was a time there while my marriage was disintegrating that I may have been on the verge of slipping into alcoholism. However after an intervention with my family I went into individual therapy, though I never went to A.A. I have my drinking under control these days. I am careful not to abuse it. Therapy also helped me to come to grips with my sexuality a lot better." Wood said that he himself had never been to therapy and never felt a need to do so. Both of them added as a follow up to my earlier question that neither of them needed to work, but they had a desire to continue their acting careers. When I asked them if they were both multi-millionaires they both nodded yes. Mac said that the rumors that he had squandered his wealth were untrue. They both pointed out that they each anticipated making a decent living from their royalties, although Wood bemoaned that if he had known how smashingly successful The Lord of the Rings films were going to be, he would have held out for an even better contract. I asked them if they wanted to work together. They both responded enthusiastically that they wanted to do that, but not always as gay characters. They said that they wanted to write a screenplay inspired by a little known film by Mike White (author of Orange County and School of Rock) called Chuck and Buck about a young man who tries to reinitiate a sexual relationship he had with another man (who is straight and engaged to be married) who he had sex with when they were children. "The roles are perfect for us." said Culkin, but added that their story will not be a remake of White's film, but a new film with new characters and a new plot that simply plays on the same general plot idea. "What I didn't like about Chuck and Buck," said Culkin, "was that Chuck was so emotionally stunted that it was easy to suspect that the character may be a pedophile. If we were to do the film, the script would have to be written to make my character much more self-confident in his own homosexuality. Elijah and I are interested in making a film about a gay man who is trying to seduce a straight childhood friend but without making it as maudlin and depressing as White's film did." Mike White himself played the character of Chuck in "Chuck and Buck."
Lastly, I asked Wood and Culkin, that while it is commonplace for people to come out of the closet as gay, it's relatively uncommon for people to come out and say that they are bi. They tried to correct me, pointing out a few examples: Sandra Bernhardt, Ann Heich, and Andy Dick. I pointed out that there hadn't been many gay celebrities since the 1970s: Liberace and Paul Lynne. Even Tony Randall denied for years that he was gay. Elton John admitted he was gay, but he was in music. Danny Pintauro from Who's the Boss? admitted he was gay when he was 21 but he hadn't been able to resurrect his career. Did they feel that the public shock of learning of their homosexuality would be lessened if they both insisted that they like women too (even if one expressed more of an interest in them than the other)? They both insisted that that was not their intention, though some people might react to it that way. They said that in some bizarre way, bisexuality had become an even bigger minority than homosexuality, and said that if celebrities (both male and female) weren't willing to come out of the closet as gay, that a lot of public good could be served if they admitted to any and all past homosexual experiences that they'd had, even as children. They then went on to tell me that between the two of them they knew at least half a dozen friends who had previously admitted to them in private of having engaged in homosexual experiences in their childhoods or adolescence, even though they considered themselves to be straight today. I asked them if any of them were celebrities. They declined to answer specifically, but Culkin said that I should go seek out Danny Pintauro, with whom Culkin had developed a friendship with over the internet a few years back. I asked Culkin if he had any plans to try to seduce Pintauro. "No, I don't think so. He's dating someone right now. Though if he and his boyfriend are up for an orgy with me and Elijah, there's definitely a possibility there!" he said.
They both concluded the interview by stating that though they expect to be bombarded with requests to do radio, TV and print interviews, that they'll pick and choose the ones they do and won't exhaust themselves. When I asked if they worried that reporters would hound them with questions about their sexuality from now on, they said that it would probably happen for a while but eventually die down. "After all," said Wood, "how many times do you see reporters coming up to out of the closet gay celebrities asking them point blank questions about their sexuality? After a while, it dies down. After the initial wave of sensationalism dies down for us, the same thing will probably happen to us." I got up and shook their hands and wished them the best of luck. They thanked me for the kind words. The interview was over.
(Editor's note: Rolling Stone intends to do a follow up story one year from now to see how Culkin and Wood are doing. This story was originally written before the news of Macaulay Culkin's arrest on drug charges in September 2004. The entire staff of Rolling Stone wishes Mr. Culkin the best and hope that he is able to clear his name if he is innocent, or get some drug counseling if he is guilty. Neither Mr. Wood nor any of his representatives, not Mr. Culkin or any of his representatives, could be reached for comment regarding Mr. Culkin's arrest.)